to flirt and to love

If anyone was to ask Lucius’s opinion on the relationship between his co-captains, he would quite rightly say that they were irrefutably idiots in love. And while it was sometimes frustrating to see them completely oblivious to matters of the heart, it was always entertaining to watch their interactions. It was very amusing, and he and the whole crew got a kick out of watching Stede and Ed.

As it was, the crew had disembarked at a tropical island in the Bahamas that operated for pirates. It was much smaller than the Republic of Pirates and fewer people, but it had a marketplace that allowed the pirates to restock their inventories without the worry of naval vessels. Stede had provided Roach some coins to get the necessary food and even given Lucius some to get new writing equipment.

It was as Lucius was returning from the marketplace and heading back to the ship that he saw Stede and Ed with their feet on the ocean shore, admiring the horizon.

“It really is a beautiful evening,” Stede said, looking across at the orange hues of the setting sun reflected in the sparkling ocean.

And Ed, like the pirate he was, merely grunted, too busy bending down to pick something up.

Lucius watched Stede’s gaze turn to Ed, a soft smile played on his lips. “Ed—”

And of course, that was when Ed ruined the moment.

“Take that you fucking ocean,” Ed muttered as he skipped the stones he’d picked up along the water.

But maybe he hadn’t ruined the moment, because Stede threw his head backwards, laughing. Ed frowned at the reaction but when he turned to Stede and saw him caught up in his laughter, his face immediately softened. It was a sight that no one outside of the crew would ever believe — Blackbeard wasn’t soft, after all. But something about Stede always brought out the human in Ed. It was a marvel to see.

Voices sounded behind Lucius so he stopped prying and made for the ship, new writing gear in hand.

—

After several nights of stormy weather, the sea had finally calmed. To celebrate the crew had drinks out on the deck and were sharing their stories. Lucius was sitting next to Black Pete, who was busy talking to Fang but kept a hand on Lucius’s knee. But that’s not what had Lucius’s attention.

Ed was seated on the staircase, while the rest of the crew sat on the lower portion of the deck. Of course Izzy was elsewhere. Stede’s eyes kept lingering on Ed, and perhaps attributed to the liquor he’d drunk, he finally approached him.

“May I sit there?” Stede said, pointing to where Ed was.

Ed raised an eyebrow. He gestured to the empty space next to him.

Stede frowned. “No, no. That won’t do. May I sit there?” he repeated, pointing at Ed’s lap.

“Mate. That’s my lap,” Ed said. His lips were pursed together—like he was containing his amusement.

“Yes. That would be adequate,” Stede said, and before Ed could protest, he had a lapful of Stede.

Stede laid himself across Ed’s lap, with his arms thrown around Ed’s neck and his face buried in the space between Ed’s neck and shoulder.

Ed was laughing. “Stede, mate, I don’t think this is very practical,” he said, but nevertheless proceeded to hold Stede.

Stede mumbled something to Ed and Lucius swore he saw a blush creep up Ed’s neck to his face. Ed mumbled something back and a few moments later, Stede rolled off Ed and sat on the lower deck in between where Ed’s legs were. Stede rested his head against Ed’s knee, smiling up at Ed. Ed gazed back, eyes impossibly fond.

Intriguingly, out of the two of them, Stede was somehow more composed, less flustered by it all. Was this what happened when Stede got drunk? Were his strong come-ons, reserved only for Ed, really capable of rendering the legendary Blackbeard speechless and flustered? Fascinating. Lucius tucked that information away for later—it might come in handy should he need something; he was a pirate after all.

—

What really consolidated Ed and Stede’s relationship, in Lucius’s opinion, was when Jim made a remark within earshot of Ed. “Ugh. Get a room if you’re just gonna flirt,” they said, followed by some Spanish that Lucius could not understand. Nevertheless, Lucius had chuckled and surprisingly Ed did not scold him, instead he looked somewhat confused.

Lucius learnt that night why Ed was confused, only it took Stede reluctantly running a sword through Ed’s body, upon Ed’s insistence, to realise it.

With the sword through the left side of his body, Ed laughed, and clutched Stede’s wrist. His face was pained but he spoke anyway. “So are we flirting now?”

Stede blinked down at his held wrist and then back to Ed and his eyebrows shot up. “I am literally stabbing you! This is the furthest from flirting!”

Ed huffed. “Damn it.”

There was a moment of silence before realisation shone on Stede’s face. “This… this is how you flirt, Ed?”

Ed furrowed his eyebrows, confusion or pain or perhaps both, Lucius wasn’t sure. “Yeah, I dunno. Sometimes? I thought it was pretty standard on the ocean,” Ed said.

Stede frowned at that, but fell silent. “Does that mean… you want to flirt with me of all people?”

Lucius sighed, the noise surprising his co-captains.

“Oi! Don’t creep on us like that,” Ed said, and then winced in pain at the movement.

“Well, clearly I needed to. You’ve chosen to be impaled by a sword. You have other priorities than flirting right now,” Lucius said, massaging his temples. “How have you survived this long? Actually, don’t answer that.”

Exasperated, Lucius went and got their medical supplies. Love could wait.

—

After that night, it appeared that Ed and Stede had discussed the issue of flirting. Their interactions hadn’t changed much, but they were aware of their behaviour now and continued to flirt, fortunately in safer ways. Of course, they never actually connected the dots as to why they wanted to flirt with one another. Lucius had slapped his palm on his head at that.

One step at a time and they would get there. Eventually. After all, love was a powerful thing.

And in any case, if they didn’t figure it out any time soon then it would just be a matter of time until the crew made it known.

Lucius smiled as he watched Ed and Stede chatting together over their cups of tea and bread.

Idiots in love indeed.